Now that DC has plunged headlong into another steamy summer, it occurs to us that we are long overdue in bringing everyone up to speed on all of the exciting work that we have been getting done here at Solid State headquarters. We’ve been getting great help from all corners and it’s been a blast so far! Our planning phase is rapidly coming to a close, and we are set to enter our next phase.

Look out for an announcement very soon about our location! We’ll be signing our lease imminently, and when we do we will need your help to spread the news far and wide. As many of you know, we’ve been negotiating for an outstanding space on H St. NE, and we believe we’ve found a great, complementary landlord! We are excited to be close to some lovely local small businesses, and to provide the neighborhood with a much needed community hub.

Our fundraising campaign has been a great success, and thanks to everyone’s wonderful support, we’ve been able to achieve our Community Lending goal! Friends and family from 18 states and 4 countries have pitched in, and we are incredibly grateful! The final piece of our fundraising efforts is nearly complete as we are about to secure our banking relationship with a great community bank here in Washington.

Here’s a brief look at our second opening phase. It’s time for action! We will share a target date for opening the store, and hopefully this website will get some love as we ramp up our marketing and social media plans. We’ll be sharing a basic layout of the store as we begin the deeper planning with our architect and general contractor! Send us any bookstore ideas or photos you have; our goal is to have a warm and inviting space that will make everyone comfortable. We’ll also be building some of our bookcases and fixtures off-site and working hard to craft the inventory database that will be the beating heart of the store... or its vascular system... or some other appropriate anatomical analogy.

And if you are one of our Lenders, look out for the swag package that we will be sending out in July! Thank you once again for believing in Solid State Books!

That’s all for now, but we will leave you with one word. It comes to us from a great friend and a Lender to boot!